‘Can I get a double Laphroaig on the rocks please?’
It started there. The bartender looked at me questingly. I’m used to that by now. I guess I just don’t look like the girl who would order a smoky whisky. Apparently he wasn’t that used to selling any kind of whisky apart from Jack or Jameson, because he slowly turned around and his eyes searched the rows and rows of bottles.
‘It’s the green bottle next to the Jameson on your right.’ He smiled, and asked me if it was any good, and we ended up having a brief conversation about whisky and then he went on to serving the bar that was starting to fill up.
I found a small table close to the dance floor. Not because I had a need to be close to all the dancing bodies (Although that is pretty entertaining in itself), but it was one of the smaller ones available.
My whisky and I sat down and was accompanied by my Mac, and then I started punching those keys. I lip synced to the music the DJ was playing, wrote words and words, and enjoyed every sip of my smoky whisky. It didn’t take long before people started looking, and very obviously wondering what the hell I was doing.
There I was, freak of nature, in the middle of a buzzing bar/club, but I was sitting by myself, not trying to make contact, I was writing, and to top it all off, I sat there with a whisky instead of a beer or a drink. There was a mixture of curiosity, confusion and dislike. How dare I behave in such an unnatural manner?
And when one guy (drunk would be an understatement) came over to me and actually asked me;
‘What the hell are you doing sitting here all by yourself? You should be out there dancing!’ You can add the drunken slurring, cause I’m not even going to try to write it in.
I laughed out loud, and told him that I was too busy at the moment making my dreams come true. He gave me a confused and angry look, walked on, and I kept on laughing while I punched the keys. So if people didn’t think me crazy already, they sure as hell probably did now.
But I’ll let you in on a secret; I couldn’t care less!
Let them look! Let them ask questions! Let them wonder, or make up stories, or dislike me for no other reason than doing things differently! Because the truth is that they know nothing about my dreams, and how important they are to me. They know nothing of my passion, and how creating makes me feel alive! And they certainly haven’t tasted a really good smoky whisky😜
But if you ask me nicely, I’ll tell you all about it! I’ll even let you have a sip😉
We are so quick to judge other people as soon as they do things differently, but how about we stop making harsh judgements and ask nice questions instead? Let’s learn from each other instead of making assumptions. Because we’re all just trying to figure stuff out our own way, and that’s the beauty of it❤️
Take inspiration from the ones who dare to be different. Those who dare to try, dare to dream and dare to not care about what everyone else thinks!
Christina de Vries 